Hammer toe pad



Dec 22 M. R. LEVITT HAMMER TOE PAD Filed NOV. 2'7, 1957 far = 1i R TOEPAD Application November 27, 1957, Serial No. 699,340

8 Claims. (Cl. 12S-S1) This invention relates to improvements in ahammer toe pad, and more particularly to a foot corrective pad highlydesirable for the treatment for a hammer toe or a similar affliction,although the pad may have other and various uses and purposes as will beapparent to one skilled in the art.

Quite frequently, a hammer toe or similar ahiotion develops a painfulcorn or the like on the high point of the toe and a painful callus orthe like may be developed underneath the anterior end of the toe byvirtue of the unnatural contact of the toe with the floor or a shoe inview of the bend of the toe. lt is not only desirable to remove pressurefrom and alleviate the painful afliiction developed on the toe, but itis also desirable to encourage the toe to straighten and this should bedone in a gentle and yet reasonably firm manner.

Heretofore, many and various types of foot corrective pads for thealleviation of hammer toes and associated afflictions have beendeveloped, but in many cases they were attached to the foot by adhesivemeans which results in uncomfortable binding upon the toe and possibleskin irritation. Other forms of pads have been subject to a shifting ofposition during use which also results in painful aggravation of thehammer toe. Furthermore, pads for this particular alictiou as developedheretofore were objectionably expensive and in some cases short lived.

With the foregoing in mind, there is an important object to the instantinvention to provide a foot corrective pad highly desirable for thealleviation of a hammer toe and associated afflictions, which pad isextremely simple and economical in construction and particularly longlived.

Also an object of this invention is the provision of a foot correctivepad suitable for the alleviation of a hammer toe, and which pad is ofuniform character so that there can be no mistake made in theapplication of the pad, since either end of the pad may be placed towardthe end of the toe.

Still another object of the instant invention is the provision of ahammer toe corrective pad or the like which is provided with a toereceiving aperture enabling the pad to readily slip over the toe intooperative position, and the structure of the pad maintains that positionagainst slippage during long use of the pad.

It is also a feature of this invention to provide a foot corrective padhighly suitable for a hammer toe or the like, which pad embodies a fullsize body lamination, thickened on opposite sides thereof and adjacentthe opposite ends thereof, the central region of the body portion beingof normal thickness.

A further object of theinstant invention resides in the provision of ahammer toe pad comprising a full size body part having an aperture inthe intermediate region thereof for the reception of the aficted toe,there being an added thickness of material on one side of the body partand adjacent one end thereof, and an added thickness of material on theopposite side of the body part adjacent the opposite end thereof,leaving the region of the body part where the aperture is located of itsnormal thickness.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantagesof the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will becomeapparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a diagrammatic plan View ofthe human foot illustrating a foot corrective pad embodying principlesof the instant invention in operative position thereon:

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged top plan view of the foot corrective paditself, removed from the foot;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the correctivepad itself taken substantially as indicated by line III-III of Fig.looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a view similar in character to Fig. 2, but showing the padmade of different material.

As shown in the drawings:

In the drawings, there is shown a diagrammatic View of the human foot inFig. l to which the illustrated embodiment of the instant invention,generally indicated by numeral 2, is shown attached in operativeposition over a hammer toe which, in the illustrated instance, is thesecond toe of the foot. It will be noted that a portion of the padoverlies the hammer toe behind the high part thereof on which a corn isfrequently developed, and the pad also underlies the anterior end of thetoe to alleviate any aihiction or uncomfortableness by virtue of theunnatural contact of the end of the toe at that point. Conjointly, thetwo portions of the pad tend to aid the toe in straightening to normalposition.

As seen best in Figs. 2 and 3 the pad is of generally elongated shapehaving straight side edges and outwardly arcuate end edges. The pad maybe formed of a single piece of material, that is molded to the desiredshape, but in the illustrated instance the pad is of laminated structureand comprises a main body piece or lamination 3 having a relativelylarge toe receiving aperture 4 in the intermediate region thereof. Thisbody portion of the pad may be made of any suitable material, and in theinstance of Figs. 2 and 3 I have shown the pad as made of a foammaterial, such as foam latex, or a chemical foam such as polyurethanefoam or polyvinyl chloride foam. Preferably the foam material hasintercommunieating cells therethrough whereby any slight pressure on thepad by an article of footwear causes the foam to breathe or pass airthrough it. With foam material, it is desirable that one surface of thematerial be covered with a slick smooth thin sheet, such as a plasticfilm, or a slick surfaced fabric, such covering being indicated at 5 inthe drawings. Also preferably, such a cover is provided with numerousperforations in the event foam material is utilized. Such foam materialprovides adequate cushioning, is highly resilient, possesses excellentrestorative characteristics and permits laundering when necessary.

The body part 3 may be provided at one end thereof with a lamination 7that may be of the same material as the body part, and this laminationis disposed on theV upper face of the body part and to one end of theaperture 4 as the structure is viewed in Fig. 3. Another lamination 8 ofsimilar shape and size and the lamination 7 is preferably attached tothe underface of the body part and adjacent the opposite end to theoutside of the aperture 4. Thus, the body part is rendered thicker on asuitable cementitious substance is satisfactory for that purpose.

The end laminations 7 and S each preferably has an arcuate concave inneredge as indicated at 9, to more evenly distribute pressure from anarticle of footwear and body weight.

It is a simple expedient to place the pad in operative position upon ahammer toe or the like, by inserting the toe through the aperture 4 anddrawing the pad rearwardly until the upper lamination 7 is behind a cornor a similar afiiiction that may occur on the high part of the toe. Itmakes no difference which end of the pad is pulled over the top of thetoe since the pad is uniform in shape at both ends. Thus, there can beno mistake made in afiixing the pad. The lamination S or thicker forwardportion of the pad will then underlie the outer end of the toe andalleviate any aiiction in that region and render the toe morecomfortable even though there is no affliction, since the pad willabsorb the effeet of the unnatural pressure contact of the toe by virtueof its bent condition. Since the laminate portion 7 of the pad over thetop of the toe distributes pressure from an article of footwear or thelike over healthy tissue to the rear of the toe, and since the thickenedportion 8 at the front of the pad underlies the forward end of the toe,and gives that forward end an elevation above adjacent toes, there is adistinct urging of the toe by the pad to straighten and assume aparallel relationship with adjacent toes.

It will be noted that the corrective pad is extremely simple inconstruction, economical to manufacture and use, and so constructed thatit maintains its useful position on the toe against unintentionalshifting.

In Fig. 4, I have illustrated the same pad construction, except in thisinstance the body part 3 and the laminations 7 and 8 are made ofcushioning material of the character of felt or some equivalent fabric.The construction is the same as that above described, with the exceptionthat in this instance the laminations are preferably secured to the bodypart of the pad by lines of stitching and 11, the stitching preferablynot extending centrally across the pad at the edges 9 of the laminations7 and 8, in order to eliminate any line of stiffness or rigiditytransversely of the pad. The structure of Fig. 4 functions the same asthe structure previously described although it may not possibly belaundered as well as the structure of Figs. 2 and 3.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that I have provided a simple andeconomical form of hammer toe pad having a toe receiving aperture andbeing thicker on opposite sides and opposite ends, the structure beingsuch that it is virtually impossible to make any error in affxing thepad to a toe, because it makes no difference which end of the pad isfirst applied.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effectedwithout departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the presentinvention.

I claim as my invention:

l. A hammer toe pad including a full size body part of cushioningmaterial having a toe receiving aperture in an intermediate partthereof, a partial lamination secured to said body part over one facethereof and to one side of said aperture, and a second partiallamination secured to said body part over the opposite face thereof andto the opposite side of said aperture.

2. A hammer toe pad including a full size body part of cushioningmaterial having a toe receiving aperture in an intermediate partthereof, a partial lamination secured to said body part over one facethereof and to one side of said aperture, and a second partiallamination secured to said body part over the opposite face thereof andto the opposite side of said aperture, said partial laminations alsobeing of cushioning material.

3. A hammer toe pad including a full size body partY of cushioningmaterial having-a toe receiving aperture in an intermediate partthereof, a partial lamination secured to said body part over one facethereof and to one side of said aperture, and a second partiallamination secured to said body part over the opposite face thereof andto the opposite side of said aperture, said partial laminations being ofsubstantially the same thickness as said body part.

4. A hammer toe pad including a full size body part of cushioningmaterial having a toe receiving aperture in an intermediate partthereof, a partial lamination secured to said body part over one facethereof and to one side of said aperture, and a second partiallamination secured to said body part over the opposite face thereof.

and to the opposite side of said aperture, said partial laminationsbeing of the same material as said body part.

5. A hammer toe pad including a full size body part of cushioningmaterial having a toe receiving aperture in an intermediate partthereof, a partial lamination secured to said body part over one facethereof and to one side of said aperture, a second partial laminationsecured to said body part over the opposite face thereof and4 to theopposite side of said aperture, said body part having straight sideedges and rounded end edges, and each said partial lamination having thesame contour as said body part but terminating in an arcuate concaveedge adjacent said aperture.

6. A hammer toe pad including a body part of cushioning material ofuniform thickness, said body part having a toe receiving aperturetherein, an extra thickness of material on said body part adjacent anend thereof, and an extra thickness of material adjacent the oppositeend of said body part and on the opposite side thereof.

7. A hammer toe pad including a body part of cushioning material, saidbody part having a toe receiving aperture therein, and said body partbeing thicker on one side only of the median plane therethrough adjacentone end of the body part and thicker on the opposite side only of saidplane adjacent the other end thereof.

8. A hammer toe pad including a body part of cushioning material ofuniform thickness, said body part having a toe receiving aperturetherein, an extra thickness of material on said body part adjacent anend thereof, and an extra thickness of material adjacent the oppositeend of said body part and on the opposite side thereof, said body partand said extra thicknesses being of foam material havingintercommunicating cells therein.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 958,199Ward May 17, 1910 2,069,034 Hicks Ian. 26, 1937 2,539,115 Brachman Ian.23, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,094,029 France Dec. 1, 1954

